74 houserules for 150 games, ranked by the people who actually play them.
Keep three destination tickets face up beside the deck. A player taking the draw-tickets action still draws three in total and still keeps at least one, but may take any of the three from the face-up market instead of blind from the deck. Refill the market at the end of that turn. The same number of tickets enters the game; you simply get to see some of what you are choosing between.
Pick a game to see how other tables bend it.
Ranked by net vote across every game.
Keep three destination tickets face up beside the deck. A player taking the draw-tickets action still draws three in total and still keeps at least one, but may take any of the three from the face-up market instead of blind from the deck. Refill the market at the end of that turn. The same number of tickets enters the game; you simply get to see some of what you are choosing between.
scribed by The-Archivist
Always open with the River expansion instead of the plain start tile — every game, not only when somebody suggests it. The River carries its own placement rule (no two consecutive river tiles may curve the same way), which belongs to the expansion rather than to this variant. What the habit buys is a board that begins as a spine with edges on both sides, so there are more legal placements early and far fewer dead ends late.
scribed by The-Archivist
Play on the grey side of the player boards — the rulebook's own variant, which most groups never turn over. A completed pattern line may go on any space in its matching row, so long as that colour is not already somewhere in the same column. Substantially harder, and worth saving until everyone knows the printed wall.
scribed by The-Archivist
